This invention relates to semiconductor optical devices, and in particular to a package which incorporates lasers and other components, a network including such a package, and a method of fabricating a package.
Optical networks are the subject of increasing interest in telecommunications due to their immense information handling capacity. Key components of such networks include one or more semiconductor lasers for generating an optical signal, and impurity-doped fiber amplifiers for amplification of the optical signal. A pump laser is coupled to the fiber amplifier through a wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) to excite the impurities, e.g., erbium, in the fiber amplifier in order to amplify the signal.
In present systems, the pump laser is usually fusion spliced to the wavelength division multiplexer, thus contributing to the cost of assembling the components of the system. It would be simpler and more economical to provide the pump laser and the WDM in a single package. It has been suggested to incorporate a pump laser in a package with isolators and filter elements. However, the inclusion of such elements in a package may be difficult to manufacture.
It is desirable, therefore, to integrate the pump laser and WDM element in such a way as to provide cost effectiveness and ease of manufacture.
The invention in one aspect is an optical device package which includes a housing defining an enclosure and including an exterior wall. An optical device is mounted within the enclosure. An assembly including a wavelength division multiplexer element is attached to the exterior wall so that the multiplexer element receives light from the optical device. An optical fiber termination including at least one optical fiber may be attached to the assembly so that the fiber receives light from the multiplexer element.